Keeping Exotic Animals

by Spencer Schultz

The practice of keeping animals as pets is highly done all throughout the world. The most common animals kept are usually dogs and cats, which many people have no qualms with. There are dark sides to the world of keeping these animals, such as people who abuse and mistreat the animals in the most unspeakable of ways. Even so, there are few keepers that do this. Most of the people who keep dogs and/or cats care for them very well, if not actually spoil their pet. There is so much work that goes into keeping a dog or cat that parents will use caring for one of these animals as a tool to teach responsibility to their children. It is commonplace throughout the United States to see a dog or cat as a household pet or even on the farm to help out with work; very few people see this as a problem. However it is quite different when it comes to keeping what people consider as exotic pets.

            Now I am not saying that everybody thinks that keeping exotic pets is a horrible thing. They just seem to find it to be wrong or upsetting in some cases, especially when talking about exotic pets such as reptiles and amphibians. As a keeper of these amazing creatures, I must admit that I have a bias. I am surrounded by people who think that these animals are cool and interesting; who see the beauty in keeping them. However I get a lot of people who look at me like there is something not quite right with me because I keep these animals in my household.  Not to mention the news reports and laws that are being put forth to make it illegal to keep even the most harmless ones.

They are different than dogs and cats; they are more difficult to keep in a certain way, but at the same time easier to keep in a certain way. With a dog/cat you need to think about feeding it three times-a-day, house training it, walking it, grooming it, the amount of attention, picking up after it (in the yard or in the box), etc. However with a reptile or amphibian, you do not need to worry about daily care. You need to set up the enclosure properly, feed it maybe 1-3 times a week, watch its temperatures, clean its cage and maybe handle it, etc. There is a lot of learning that goes into different aspects of all creatures. It is not as active as a dog or cat, so it requires more memory to keep track of it than a dog barking that the dog’s hungry.

Still is it wrong to keep them? Nowadays many of these animals are bred just like dogs. The industry is huge, so many of the animals are not coming out of the wild. Granted, that is not always true, so one must be careful as to where their pet comes from in case it was caught out of the wild. The same line of thought can be considered for dogs too; you do not want to get a dog from a puppy mill.

Many people have issues with snakes. It is commonly misconstrued that they are man-eaters. In all reality, unless you are a pygmy human, you are not going to be eaten by even a large snake. These animals have a problem getting passed the human’s broad shoulders. If properly kept, these animals should not be able to get out of their cages. These wonderful animals, if kept in a proper enclosure, can easily be enjoyed throughout their entire life, without harm to the owner or the animal. All animals have the potential to bite: snakes, dogs, lizards, cats, goldfish, and even humans. If it has a mouth, it can bite and it can hurt. If you don’t irritate, the animal you will not get bitten. Many people have been bitten by dogs, but that does not make the dogs evil.

This back and forth on how keeping exotic pets such as snakes versus keeping dogs has been talked about for years and will continue. The overall point I am attempting to make is that, keeping these animals, whether it is dogs or snakes, may be very different. However, there are a lot of the same ideas that you have to go through when considering keeping either of them.